Kismet Temple

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

Kismet Temple is a Moorish Revival building at 92 Herkimer St. in Brooklyn, in Kings County, built in 1909 to designs by architect Richard Thomas Short of the firm Harde & Short.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with local significance in architecture and social history. Its period of significance runs from 1909, when the temple was built, to 1966, when Friendship Baptist Church bought the building.

Physical character

Its walls combine brick, stuccoed brick and terra cotta laid in a diaper pattern over a brick foundation, under a hipped, pressed-metal roof. Moorish Revival details include a horseshoe arch, corbel-arched openings, a minaret, onion domes and an inverted dome, with terra-cotta ornament of a scimitar, a sphinx, a Star of David and a five-pointed star. Inside are marble staircases, terrazzo and parquet-brick floors, and an Austin Organ with its pipes.

Historical context

Kismet Temple was chartered in 1888 as the 37th Shriners temple and gained jurisdiction over Long Island in 1900. The Shriners bought the Herkimer Street site in 1909, broke ground that year for their new Brooklyn headquarters, and dedicated the finished temple in 1910. Friendship Baptist Church bought the building in 1966.